Chester Community Chorus to offer winter concerts Dec. 3 - 5

. Kate West

Chester Editor

12/1/2010

The award winning Chester Community Chorus will present three winter concerts in the Lake Almanor Basin during the first weekend in December.

Titled “Many Sounds of Christmas,” the concert will include, according to director Elsie Wesley, “a wide selection of holiday music featuring full harmonies, foreign languages, the humorous, the exciting and the enjoyable.”

“It took me about three months to choose the music after a review of over 200 choral pieces,” Wesley said.

She said that among the special numbers would be a Haitian carol, two baroque musical pieces, a vocal solo by Josh Huddleston and a cello solo.

She said the chorus, The New Chorale, The Kindred Spirits women’s group and The New Gen children’s group would each perform.

New for this season, The Quartet will debut. Natalie Kepple, who plays with the Reno Symphony Orchestra, and Basin resident Jeff Bryant will join the performers.

Concerts are open to the public and though there is no charge for the performances, donations would be appreciated.

“At this time we want to let everyone know the Chester Community Chorus is on its own since Feather River College cut our grant due to government financial setbacks,” Wesley said.

The CCC board of directors is working hard to keep the 21-year fixture in place and has hired two grant writers.

“I am personally appealing to all our patrons, donors, benefactors and friends in the community to please continue to give financial assistance to keep the chorus going and free concerts in the community,” Wesley said.

“There was a rumor going around that the Chester Community Chorus is at its end. While it is true that we are in a financial crisis, with continued support from the community we can rise above this difficult situation,” added Wesley.

All performances will be at the Chester Community United Methodist Church, on Main Street (Highway 36) at Glenwood Drive, in Chester.

For more information about the upcoming concerts or the Chester Community Chorus, call Trina Woods at 259-2551 or Elsie Wesley at 284-1750.

About the director

Wesley comes from a background that includes academic as well as musical instruction. Experienced in the field of music production, she is a native of the Philippines.

She first became involved with music when she began piano lessons at age eight.

“It was a continuous lesson that didn’t stop until I earned my bachelor’s degree in music education in 1974,” she said.

Wesley, hired in October 2006, participated in three months of on-the-job training. At the completion of her local familiarization program in January 2007, she picked up the baton as the official director of the Chester Community Chorus.